Green takes opportunities as they come

"It's not easy," Green said about life on the bench. "I just think you have to come every day expecting to play, even though 90 percent of the time it isn't going to happen. It's not easy. But whenever you get in there, you see your name in the lineup, it's exciting."

Green made his debut as a starter for the Red Sox yesterday, playing shortstop in place of the struggling Jed Lowrie. Green previously only had gotten into a game as a pinch runner for the Sox Thursday against Tampa Bay.

"I think it will be good for him," manager Terry Francona said about sitting Lowrie. "I think he's OK. He drilled that ball into left field the other day pretty good. I just think sometimes a day off is good, mental, physical, just the whole [thing]. Just let him step back."

With singles in his first two at-bats for the Sox, Green already had eclipsed the production from Lowrie in five games. Lowrie is 1 for 18 with eight strikeouts.

Green had gone to sleep between 9:30 and 10 p.m., Saturday night, knowing he wouldn't be helping anyone if he wasn't ready for yesterday's game, starting or not.

"He came in [to spring training] in great shape, and the way he played created more playing time," Francona said of Green, who can play three infield positions and right field. "That's what we tell guys the first day. We're not supposed to have six, seven openings, but if you show you can play, and then there's a need - maybe it's Opening Day, maybe it's the middle of the season - but the need was on Opening Day and he competed and won that job and did a good job."

But there was a regret for Green yesterday, even after the two hits and the run scored, which came after he was hit on the inside of the right ankle in the ninth on a pitch by Brian Fuentes. He regretted the consecutive missed bunt attempts in the seventh with Jason Varitek on second base, eventually striking out. Varitek ended up stranded on second.

"I just didn't scoot up far enough in the box," Green said. "They weren't even playing me to bunt, so I didn't want to look like I was bunting, but I should have. Caught the sinker on the bottom part of my bat twice. It stinks."

The Sox are still moving cautiously with Saito, having stayed away from pitching him in back-to-back games this season. Saito is coming back from an elbow injury that cost him much of the 2008 season with the Dodgers. But as a fill-in closer and setup guy, the Sox think they may have stolen a player whose numbers are a bit ridiculous over his career (1.98 ERA, 245 strikeouts in 190 2/3 innings).

"That's some of the idea," Francona said. "There is some comfort there. We really think we've got a good reliever, so we'll keep an eye on him."

"I don't think I struggled," Lester said. "I pounded the zone. I just made a couple mistakes in the middle of the plate and they hit them. A team like that you can't do that with. You have to pitch to both sides of the plate. When you throw a ball down the middle, it doesn't help. . . . I don't think that the line score shows - obviously it shows that if you just look at it I pitched bad, but I don't think I pitched bad at all."

Lester, who gets the start tonight at Oakland, where he has a career 2.31 ERA in 11 2/3 innings, allowed five runs on eight hits and two walks against the Rays. Coming out of that start, he said he didn't work on anything specifically, as he was mechanically fine that night. Maybe, he said, it was just "getting the jitters, the adrenaline, getting used to all that again."

Amalie Benjamin can be reached at abenjamin@globe.com.